


maybe together we can get somewhere

by rowanoak



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Motorcycle Accidents, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:20:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22407094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowanoak/pseuds/rowanoak
Summary: Wanted to write about Yang's recklessness and the progression of that once she meets Blake. It turned into a larger beast than I expected. College AU
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 85
Kudos: 319





	1. Chapter 1

Before Yang met Blake, she didn’t care about the speedometer on her bike. She would push 90 mph in a 60 mph zone frequently without a care (and without a helmet). When the wind whipped through her hair and her blood pumped full of adrenaline, Yang felt free. The only thoughts that ran through her head were about how fast she could go. Ruby would give her shit for it occasionally, but Yang would just roll her eyes and assure her that there wasn’t anything to worry about.

Sometimes she would be driving a more scenic route and take a turn too sharply at too high a speed. In moments like these her bike would skid out and she’d go home with road marks on her clothes and a little bit of blood. It was nothing extreme, but Ruby would freak out and yell at her in a high pitched voice laced with tears. Yang would assure her (like always) that she would be more careful, with no real intention of keeping that promise.

Her driving would become more reckless on anniversaries of personal significance. The first anniversary of Summer’s death after Yang bought her bike was particularly bad. She drove fast with a numb heart, and there was nothing but painful memories going through her head. One turn taken too quickly and Yang found her bike spinning out. Her body was flung off the road and her face scraped harshly against the ground. She laid there for a time, tears welled in her eyes as she faded in and out of consciousness. When she finally was able to maintain lucidity, she brushed herself off and righted her bike. Looking in the bike’s mirror, she could see that her face was properly fucked up and that blood dripped freely down her cheek, but she was more worried about the money it was going to take to fix the huge gash on the side of Bumblebee.

She walked her bike all the way home, and limped the entire way. Ruby was furious at her, per usual. She yelled and cried at Yang to drive more safely, or to at least wear a helmet. She gave Ruby the usual half-hearted promises as she tended to the scabbing marks on her face. Yang didn’t have the energy or heart to tell Ruby that she never planned on keeping any of these promises. The feeling she got while driving, the sense of excitement and nervousness, was not something she’d be able to find anywhere else. She knew that.

-

She’s in a gen-ed English class that is required of all freshmen to graduate. It’s a snooze-fest as far as Yang is concerned. It is the type of class that she could doze off through but somehow still manage to get an A in the end. Yang is daydreaming about modifications she could make to Bumblebee when she notices students starting to get up and move around the class. It surely isn’t the end of class yet, they still have twenty minutes left.

She feels a small tap on her shoulder and turns around to see a pair of amber eyes looking back at her.

“You weren’t listening were you?” she says it with a small tone of judgement in her voice. This girl is gorgeous, she thinks to herself. She has dark black hair that rolls all the way down her back, and flawless dark skin. She is so caught up in looking at this girl’s face that she only notices the fact that she’s a faunus when one of the cat ears on her head flicks in annoyance at Yang’s lack of response. Shit.

“Uh, no, can’t say I was,” she finally manages. “You mind catching me up?”

“We’re all breaking off into pairs to analyze the passages she assigned us,” she rolls her eyes and Yang realizes this girl is a little bit rude.

“And I’m guessing that means we’re partners?” Yang gives her a sheepish smile, trying to break the ice.

“You’d be right.” She gestures for Yang to turn her desk around so they can work facing each other. She complies and soon she’s sitting face to face with her stunning English partner.

She shoves her hand out to the girl in front of her, hoping she doesn’t notice it's slightly sweaty. “I’m Yang!”

The faunus girl smiles and lightly takes it, her hand cool in Yang’s warm one. “Blake,” she says evenly.

“A pleasure to meet you! I’m sorry you got stuck with me as a partner...I promise I can pull my weight though.” She jokingly flexes an arm.

“It’s fine, I think we’ll be okay. The assignment is due next class and it shouldn’t take that much time. We can meet up tomorrow, if you want, to finish it,” Blake’s looking down at one of the passages their professor assigned them. Yang notices how long her eyelashes are.

Blake looks up at her after a beat of silence, question in her eyes. “Uh- yeah that sounds good! We could go to the coffee shop on campus?” Yang answers quickly in an attempt to save herself.

“Sure. Let’s exchange numbers so we can text about a time to meet,” she holds her palm out to Yang expectantly. She unlocks her phone, relinquishing it to the girl in front of her. Blake types in her number and gives it back to its owner.

Looking quickly at the contact info, she sees that Blake put a little book emoji next to the name ‘Blake Belladonna’ in her phone. Yang shoots her a quick text:

_yang xiao long :)_

For the rest of the class the go over a few of the literary devices used in the first passage, and Blake jots down what they come up with. Her penmanship, Yang notices, is near perfect. It’s light and flowy and obviously is something Blake has trained herself to do. Yang scribbles notes in her journal but mostly just doodles in the margins while she helps give ideas to her partner.

When class ends Blake gets up to leave and Yang walks after her at a quick pace.

“So where are you headed? I could give you a ride,” she throws Blake her award-winning smile.

“Oh. I just have a class across campus, so it’s okay. You have a car?” her golden eyes go wide. Most freshmen don’t have cars on campus so it comes as a surprise.

“Nah, I drive a bike. I live at my dad’s house about twenty minutes out so I get to park there for free,” she adds, wanting to clear up any confusion.

Blake gives her a cute grin, “Thanks for the offer, Yang.” She loves the way her name sounds when Blake says it. “I’ll text you about tomorrow.” She watches the faunus walk away, a lopsided smile still stuck on her face. She swears she sees Blake glance back at her, but she marks it up to wishful thinking.

On her way home Yang finds her mind captivated by the girl she had met. Her head keeps replaying the conversation they had, no matter that it was inconsequential and primarily about English literature. She knows it doesn’t make sense, but she can’t help but feel like she’s on the precipice of something that she can’t name.

A car behind her honks rudely and she is brought back to the present. She notices that shes going five miles under the speed limit in the fast lane. Instead of letting the car behind her pass, she speeds up to a faster pace. However, she doesn’t push her bike to the brink like she normally would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman because I’m dyke


	2. Chapter 2

Unsurprisingly, Yang waits impatiently for Blake’s text about their homework date. She’s lounging on the couch the next morning in a black tank-top and orange shorts, flipping through the channels, trying desperately not to keep looking at her phone. Today is one of the days in her week where she doesn’t have classes, and at this point she almost wishes she did have them so she would have something to do. She considers going out for a ride on Bumblebee when she hears her phone vibrate against the armrest of the couch.

_Blake: Do you want to meet at 2:00pm today?_

Yang rushes to message back, excited at the thought of getting to see Blake again today.

_Yang: works for me :)_

She debates taking away the smiley face. Is it weird to seem eager to work on homework? She doesn’t care. Yang hits send and jumps off the couch, rushing to get ready. It’s 12:00pm right now and she needs to run a couple of errands for her dad before she meets Blake.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she focuses in on the faded white skid marks that discolor the bottom half of the right side of her jaw. It’s not super noticeable. Her dad and her sister constantly tell her that at least. She doesn’t regret them, and they certainly do not remind her to drive safer, but she’d be lying if said she doesn’t get self conscious about them from time to time.

She shakes away the thoughts of road burn and scarring and digs through her closet for something to wear. In the end she decides on a yellow tank with a brown leather jacket and some regular jeans. Brushing her teeth and combing her hair complete her process.

After getting ready she goes by the store and picks up some groceries her father had asked her to get, also grabbing a few things she knows Ruby will like (this includes cookies and the most sugar-filled cereal Yang can find). At 1:34pm she speeds back home on Bumblebee and drops the groceries off.

She jumps back on her bike and blazes down to the school as fast as she can. The thought of Ruby scolding her for driving so fast materializes in the back of her head, but she pushes it away and amps up the speed. There’s no way she’s going to be late to a study date with her super hot English partner that she’s only just met. She cringes internally at the first impression she must have made on Blake. She’s sure the faunus girl thinks she’s spacey and irresponsible. Yang is nothing if not notorious for her first impressions.

She parks Bumblebee in front of the campus coffee shop (appropriately named “Campus Coffee) at 2:01pm. After checking her hair in the mirror of her bike, she decides she looks fine and walks through the front doors and a small bell dingles as she enters.

Blake’s ears perk up and Yang is stricken again by just how pretty she is. She’s wearing a dark purple knit sweater today along with some black skinny jeans and boots. Her hair pours down her shoulders and Yang is briefly distracted by the curve of her neck as she moves to take a seat. They are at a small wooden table next to a large window in a corner of the quiet coffee shop.

“I thought for a minute that you might bail on me,” she raises an eyebrow. Yang is about to object but then she notices the corner of Blake’s mouth turning up into a small smile and she can tell that she’s making a joke.

“No way I would bail on you. Who else is going to get me an A on this homework?” Yang tosses the joke back and Blake laughs softly.

“Really though,” Yang continues, “I’m sorry I’m a little late. I had to run to the grocery store and grab us some grub.”

“Oh really, don’t worry I was just messing with you,” Blake assures her. “Who all lives with you?”

“Just me, my dad, and my little sister. Do you live on campus?” Yang always wanted to live on campus but they didn’t have the money to spend on lodging when she could sleep at home for free.

“Yeah, I live in Beacon Hall down on the west side of campus. It’s pretty nice, but my roommate is a bit of a pain.” Blake rolls her eyes and starts to open her textbook, the passages they were meant to analyze placed in between the pages of the book.

Yang laughs at this. “That’s one upside to living at home, I don’t have to worry about roommate bullshit other than my sister being annoying occasionally.”

“I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat,” she starts marking some lines on the pages. Yang gets out her journal and starts to help Blake with the passages. She moves her chair around so that she’s sitting next to her partner in order to read easier. What she’s not at all ready for is how good Blake smells. Seriously, what is in her shampoo? It’s intoxicating and Yang tries to focus on the matter at hand: homework.

They work for about an hour before Yang leans back and starts to stretch. She may be imagining it, but she thinks she catches Blake looking at her arms for a little bit longer than is socially acceptable.

“Are we almost done?” she whines. Blake arches an eyebrow and gives her a look.

“Well I guess we’re pretty much done if you’re in that much of a hurry,” Blake begins to gather her papers together.

“No, no, I like hanging out with you, I just hate English!” She backpedals, not wanting to have Blake think she doesn’t want to be here.

“Mhmmm.” The faunus seems amused by Yang’s scrambling but continues to pack her things.

“Hey, what are you doing right now?” She catches Blake’s eye, hoping she would say she’s free.

“I had plans with my roommate,” Blake trails off, and Yang is excited at her use of the word “had”.

“I thought you don’t like her?” she questions.

“I do like her! I believe I said she can be a ‘pain.’ I never said I don’t like her,” Blake defends herself, but Yang is already moving on to the next topic.

“Let me take you for a ride on my bike,” she looks at her partner with hopeful eyes.

“To be honest, I’m a bit scared of those things. They seem dangerous...and loud.” Blake gives her a wary look, her ears flattening slightly.

“Only if you’re not with a super experienced driver like me,” she punctuates it with a wink. “We’ll go slow I promise. Don’t feel pressured or anything though.” She extends a hand out to Blake and slings her backpack on her shoulder with her other arm.

Blake thinks on it for a second, then takes her hand. Once again, Yang’s hands are warm and clammy while Blake’s are surprisingly cool. They leave the shop and make their way towards Bumblebee.

Blake’s eyes widen at the shiny yellow paint job. “This is yours?” she asks dumbfounded.

“She’s my pride and joy! I spend most of my free time fixing her up and keeping her in top condition,” she beams proudly.

Yang slides onto her bike and gestures for Blake to hop on after her. Blake situates herself behind her and wraps her arms loosely around Yang’s middle.

The engine roars to life and Yang can feel her riding companion flinch a bit at the sudden noise from the bike.

“You said you live at Beacon Hall right?” she shouts over the rumble of the engine. She looks back to see Blake nodding and she smiles and kicks up the kickstand and flips her aviators on.

Keeping her promise to go slow, Yang abides by all possible traffic laws that could apply on campus. Driving carelessly when it’s only her on the bike is one thing, but she always drives safely when she has a passenger (especially if that passenger is a really cute girl).

They drive across campus and it’s a beautiful fall day. The leaves on the trees are turning all colors of red, brown, and orange. She feels Blake’s grip around her waist tighten once she gets comfortable, and Yang can feel her relax.

Soon they arrive at Beacon Hall and Yang parks Bumblebee in a visitor space. Blake hops off the back of the bike and smooths out her wind blown hair (which Yang thinks looks cute).

“Well, that’s one thing I can check off my bucket list,” she says as she looks fondly at Yang.

“Happy to be of assistance,” Yang replies as she takes off her sunglasses and shakes her hair.

“Do you want to come hang out? We were going to make popcorn and watch movies, and we could always use one more.” Blake still plays with a piece of her hair, glancing at her feet every so often.

Yang checks the time on her phone. “I would really love to, but Ruby should be getting home from school soon. I promised her I’d help with her homework.” This fucking sucks. Having to turn down a pretty girl asking her to hang out sucks.

“I really hope it’s not English homework,” she smiles jokingly at Yang.

“I’m offended, Belladonna. But no, it’s math homework actually. Ruby’s a smart kid, but taking advanced level courses is starting to kick her in the butt,” she sighs at this. “I’ll take a rain check on the movies though.”

“Hmmm, we’ll see.” This time Blake winks at her and turns to walk into her dorm. Yang tries not to focus on the sway of her hips as she walks away. The faunus throws a hand in a wave goodbye, but doesn’t turn around.

Yang can’t wipe the dopey looking smile off her face the entire ride home. She doesn’t even notice that she’s going the speed limit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses as to who Blake's roommate is? Lol


	3. Chapter 3

“If I ever try to take another advanced math class, please smack me in the face.” Ruby slumps forward dramatically. They’re at the kitchen table working on Calculus 3 problems that have taken her sister days to get through. The sun is getting lower in the sky and the rays shine through the parted window curtains giving the room a sepia tone. 

“Don’t worry, I will hit you upside the head if you try to do this again. What the hell does this even mean?” Yang points at a problem with more letters than numbers in it. 

“If I knew, we wouldn’t be sitting here!” Ruby reaches for the plastic tupperware of chocolate chip cookies sitting in the middle of the table. She takes a bite of a cookie and scratches her head with her pencil. 

Now it’s Yang’s turn to drop her forehead to the table dramatically. “And to think, I could be watching movies with Blake right now,” she sighs and sits up, opening her sister’s textbook. 

“Who’s Blake?” Ruby’s looking for any excuse to distract herself from homework. 

“She’s this girl I met yesterday in my English class. We did some homework together today and she invited me to hang out after. Rubes, she’s like, the prettiest girl I’ve ever met,” she widens her eyes at her sister to show how serious she is. 

“So what, do you have a crush on her? You could have blown me off!” She continues to munch on her cookie. 

“I mean I’ve only seen her like, twice. But I think anybody would be crazy not to have a crush on her.” Yang thinks about it. Would it be accurate to say she has a crush on Blake? She doesn’t know what else one would call it. It just feels a little soon to be claiming she has a crush on a girl she literally met a day ago. It also feels inaccurate to say she _doesn’t_ have a crush on Blake. 

“Well, you should ask her to go out or something! Trust me, girls like it when you’re straightforward.” Ruby points the crumbling half of her cookie in Yang’s face to punctuate her claim. 

“And how the hell would you know that? Last I checked, you’ve never had a girlfriend.” Yang laughs and pushes the cookie out of her face, and at this Ruby shoves the rest of it in her own mouth.

“Take my advice or leave it. If you don’t get a girlfriend that means you’ll have more time to hang out with me, so I’m fine either way!” she sticks out her tongue at Yang childishly. 

Yang laughs and ruffles Ruby’s hair harshly. The moment is good, but then Ruby’s face turns darker and more serious. 

“Hey, I wanted to talk to you about next month,” she says hesitantly, testing the waters. 

“What about it?” she retorts, already sounding standoffish. Yang knows what Ruby is getting at, but she’s not going to be the one to say it.

“I know it’s the anniversary of Raven leaving, and you always disappear for a few days. It drives dad and I insane worrying about you. Can you promise me you’ll try to be safe this year?” She has a pleading look in her eyes. 

“I don’t want to talk about this right now, Ruby.” She gets up from the table, grabs her leather jacket off the chair, and makes for the door.

“Yang, please just promise me you won’t do anything stupid!” She can hear the quiver in Ruby’s voice and she stalls in the doorway for a second. 

“I’m going for a drive. I’ll see you later, okay?” she tries to give her sister a reassuring smile but she can see the tears welling in Ruby’s eyes.  
  
Yang turns and heads to where Bumblebee is parked. The sunset is still shining bright so she flicks her aviators on and gets ready to ride. Her bike grumbles to life and she kicks off. She keeps at a moderate speed until she’s far enough away from the house but then she revs the engine and pushes Bumblebee as fast as is reasonably possible on the small road she is on. The air flowing into her face helps calm her down and chases the way thoughts of Raven, and of Yang’s own inadequacy.

The sun finally dips over the horizon and the sky slowly grows dark, and the stars just start to glow to life against the night. Soon she arrives at her destination: the beach. Yang parks her bike by the dunes where the beach grass grows sparsely and slips her shoes off. She starts her barefoot trek out to the water and takes a seat where sand is still dry right before the tide stops. 

Raven left Taiyang a few days after Yang was born. She kissed him on the forehead while he held Yang in his arms and gave a quick excuse about needing to find herself, and that was the last time they saw her. Her father maintains that nothing about Yang caused Raven to leave, and logically Yang knows she should believe him, but in her heart she can’t shake the deep seated fear that Raven left because she had a child.

Yang stares over the calm ocean and digs her fingers deep into the coolest parts of sand. She knows that Ruby just wants to make sure she’s not going to get hurt, but she has no idea what she would do to stop the thoughts about Raven abandoning her that battered her brain if she couldn’t ride her bike. Without riding her bike there is no escape.

She stays there for a while, thinking about how Ruby and her father would never leave her, but it does nothing to stop the ache that grows more painful in her chest. When she finally gets up to go back to Bumblebee, she turns the engine over and drives so fast on the way home that the wind in her face blows away any painful memories that may be lingering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to post the next chapter early this week! Getting back into the work/school week may delay it a bit. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

The next afternoon Yang shows up to English class with dark bags under her eyes. She had gotten little sleep after her conversation (or lack thereof) with Ruby. As she walks into class a minute before the starting time, she sees Blake, and the faunus girl gives her a bright smile. Yang’s nods at her in acknowledgement and gives her a forced smile back, but then takes her seat.

The lesson goes as usual. The professor drones on about literature and the English language while Yang sketches in her journal and dozes off. Eventually she feels a light tap on her shoulder which jerks her to consciousness.

“Wakey, wakey. She wants the pairs from last class to work on another assignment. I guess you’re stuck with me again.” Blake’s voice is soothing in its cadence and it reminds Yang of honey.

She turns around and gives her a toothy grin. “You act like I’m not the one benifitting from this arrangement.” She turns her desk around so she’s facing Blake once again. For the third day in a row she’s absolutely struck by her partner’s deep golden eyes and soft expression.

They get straight to business and start working on the assigned pages. Yang has an internal battle with herself about whether or not she should ask Blake to go out on a date with her. Is Blake even attracted to her? Sure, she caught the girl’s gaze lingering a few times, but that practically means nothing. Besides, Yang’s mind could be playing tricks on her.

_Focus, Xiao Long._

She looks up to see a piece of Blake’s hair falling into her face. The instinct to reach out and brush it away is a powerful one, but she manages to stop herself. Shit. This is the opposite of focusing.

Once class is dismissed, they stroll out to the parking lot and Yang leans back against her bike. Blake is standing in front of her talking about the assignment, hugging her textbook tight to her chest.

Maybe Yang could ask her out in a way that wasn’t actually asking her out. What if she offered to have Blake come hang out in a group setting? That’s like, basically not a date, so she can gauge Blake’s reaction to that and assess if she would want to go out on a real date.

Yang is still debating the pros and cons of asking Blake out when the faunus says something that instantly grabs her attention.

“So, would you want to go out to dinner with me sometime? Like, without doing English homework?” The faunus plays with a strand of her hair and glances to the side shyly, ears pressed to her head.

“Uh, yeah, I would like that a lot actually,” she’s taken aback at Blake’s bluntness, which doesn’t seem characteristic of the girl at all. She also curses at Ruby in her head when she realizes that she does like how straightforward Blake is being.

“Oh, cool!” She exclaims, like she’s almost surprised Yang said yes. “Where should we go?”

“There’s this cute italian place I’ve been to a couple of times. It’s right off campus so I could drive us there,” she says while patting Bumblebee.

“You’re just looking for an excuse to get me on that death trap again,” she gives a pointed look to Yang’s motorcycle.

“And here I was under the impression that you liked having your arms around me! How foolish of me.” She’s pushing the boundaries of their flirting, seeing how far she can go.

Blake’s eyes light up and she laughs so beautifully that Yang wants to hear that sound every day for the rest of her life.

“Wow, maybe I should cancel. I’m not sure if I could play third wheel to you and your ego,” she scrunches her nose, but a smile pulls at the corners of her mouth.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure my ego stays at home so I can give you all of my attention,” she dares to step forward and brush a hand over Blake’s arm.

“Mm, that sounds agreeable to me. Would Monday night at six work for you?” She leans into Yang’s touch.

She does a quick mental inventory of her schedule.

“That sounds perfect.” Yang puts her aviators on and starts to mount her bike. “Have a good weekend, Belladonna,” she says over the grumble of Bumblebee, throwing the faunus a wink.

Blake rolls her eyes as Yang pulls away on her motorcycle.

-

Yang’s weekends are typically pretty dull. She mostly spends them catching up on homework and binge watching shows. It’s Saturday afternoon when she’s laying in bed absentmindedly eating chips and watching Cartoon Network, that she receives a text from someone unexpected.

_Neon: heyyyyyy babe :3_

She groans, but begins to type a response.

_Yang: what is it_

_Neon: not even a hello :(_

_Yang: hello. what do you want dude_

_Neon: a shame you always assume i want something :3c_

_Yang: am i wrong tho?_

_Neon: yes actually! because I was going to invite you to a party tonight…_

She thinks about it. Partying isn’t something Yang’s done much of since last semester, and for good reason.

_Yang: who’s party?_

_Neon: the rugby team! they’re throwing a rager at the team house tonight!! we can catch up ;)_

_Yang: aren’t you dating a rugby player_

_Neon: i *was* dating a rugby player. i dumped him cuz he was boring_

Fuck. Hooking up with Neon Katt is one of the stupidest decisions she’s ever made, and Yang has done a lot of stupid things. It was a drunken mistake of first semester that then turned into multiple mistakes throughout the following few months. Neon is absolutely insufferable but Yang didn’t care about that at the time.

Still, a party tonight sounds like exactly what she needs to cut loose. She just has to stay as far away from Neon as physically possible.

_Yang: fine i’ll be there_

_Neon: yay!!! :D i’ll see ya there blondie_

Yang sighs and throws her phone down on the bed. Hopefully she’ll be able to have fun at this party without regretting it.

-

When Yang parks Bumblebee in front of the rugby house, it’s about 9:00pm and the night air is crisp. She can see her breath if she exhales hard enough.

The rugby house is full of sweaty college kids and the music thrums loudly as people laugh and drink, pressed shoulder to shoulder. Yang moves smoothly through the crowd towards the kitchen. There, all kinds of alcohol line the counter. She sets down a small bottle of tequila she brought with her, and grabs a shot glass from the cupboard.

“Ooh, pour me one too!” A form presses to her side and she doesn’t have to look to know who it is. So much for avoiding Neon. 

“One tequila shot coming right up,” she pours them both large shots and passes one to the colorful girl next to her. Neon grimaces as the liquor goes down.

“I have no idea how you drink this stuff! Must be because you’re so crazy hot.” She walks her fingers up Yang’s arm.

Yang shifts uncomfortably. “Guess so,” she agrees, pouring herself another shot. She needs to be way drunker than she currently is if she’s going to be hanging out with Neon.

While Neon prattles on about drama with her ex-boyfriend, Yang downs a couple more shots. She’s not planning on getting sloppy drunk, but damn if she’s not here to have a good time. This house is disgusting, she notes with a quick look around. The rugby players are not known for being clean, but every surface in this place is sticky.

She cracks open a beer and starts to sip on it when over Neon’s head she sees none other than Blake Belladonna walk through the front door.

Yang almost chokes on her drink.

Blake looks absolutely radiant. Her hair frames her face perfectly and she’s got on a smoky eye shadow that makes her amber irises glow. It takes her a second to notice the small girl that came in with Blake.

To the left of the faunus there is a short pale girl with snow-white hair held up in a high ponytail. She’s pretty, but the irritated look on her face makes her seem unapproachable.

Neon jumps in front of Yang’s face, trying to command her attention. “Who are you looking at?”

She turns and follows Yang’s sight line to the front of the house where Blake just entered. Neon’s face widens into a cat-like smile.

“Oh, is that your new play-thing? I don’t hear good things about that one!” Neon brings a hand to Yang’s chin and her tail curls lightly around her wrist. She shoves Neon away, face starting to flush with a mix of anger and embarrassment.

“Get lost, Neon. You don’t know her.” She pushes past the colorful faunus and heads towards where she saw Blake.

Neon calls something out after her, but Yang isn’t paying attention. She finds Blake leaning against a wall, nursing a red solo cup with who-knows-what in it. The wall is hard against her back as she casually slides next to Blake.

“I didn’t know you came to these things,” she leans in and says quietly to Blake who is looking at her with surprise.

“I don’t. But, maybe I would if I knew you were going to be here.” She bumps a shoulder into Yang’s. The blonde gives her a fond smile.

“Noted. We can come together next time.” Yang scans the room full of students. “Who is that girl you were with?”

Blake sips her drink and points with her cup across the room to where the girl in question is talking to a tall red-head, who Yang guesses is a rugby player. “That would be my roommate, Weiss. She has it bad for that rugby girl so I got dragged along to this ‘party’.” She makes air quotes when she says “party.”

“Ah, so this is the famous and mysterious roommate.” Yang watches Weiss as she blushes and laughs nervously at something the red-headed girl just said.

Blake chuckles and takes another sip of her drink. “So, who is the girl _you_ were with?” she quirks an eyebrow at Yang with a small grin tugging at her lips.

“Oh, uh, that’s Neon. She’s a friend from last semester. She’s the one who invites me to these parties,” she says as she scratches the back of her head.

“Huh, I’ll have to thank her. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to right now.” Blake’s voice is soft and comforting and Yang suddenly realizes that she’s had one too many tequila shots.

“Heh, I’m gonna go to the bathroom. Do you want me to grab you a new drink on the way back?” Her words start to slur. She needs to go splash some water on her face and pull it together. First she was too sober to be talking to Neon, but now she’s too smashed to be talking to Blake.

“No, I’m fine. This is just soda.” The faunus tips her cup to Yang to show her the liquid there. Fuck. Blake isn’t even a little bit tipsy. Yang is going to look like a mess.

She cuts her way through the throng of people towards the small bathroom. Luckily enough, there’s no line so she slips inside. Looking at herself in the mirror, she splashes water on her face and wills herself to sober up. For the love of the gods, she can’t afford to make another bad impression on this girl.

Yang dries her face and walks back out into the action. She sees Blake right where she left her, but there’s three massive dudes standing next to her, one with his hand pressed to the wall by her head. As she gets closer she can hear some of their conversation.

“Come on, come upstairs with me, cutie.” He says in a low and dangerous voice. His friends giggle like idiots behind him.

Blake’s ears are pressed tight against her head and she looks annoyed. “Thanks again, but I’m fine.” Her gaze meets Yang’s briefly until the man is leaning in closer to her.

“I’m not gonna bite.” His friends are still cackling like assholes and Yang has heard enough. She inserts herself between the two of them, shoulder checking the guy who had Blake cornered.

“I’m pretty sure she said no. Keep moving.” Yang sizes the guy up. He’s got at least a foot on her, but she’s taken down men bigger than her before, so she’s not intimidated. The guy rolls his eyes and backs off.

He looks back as he and his friends are walking away and spits at Yang’s feet. He mutters loud enough for them both to hear: “Dirty fucking faunus.”

She sees Blake deflate, her eyes dropping to the floor and her arms wrapping around herself. That’s the last straw for Yang. She strides across the floor until she’s right behind the guy, grabs his shoulder to spin him around, and decks him in the face. The crunch of his nose shattering against her fist is audible, and he falls heavily to the ground.

Maybe if she were sober that would have been it, but she isn’t, and she can’t help herself. She jumps on top of him and goes for another swing. She knows his fist glances off of her face but she doesn’t feel the impact. Eventually someone pulls her off of the guy who is now bleeding on the floor, and the rest of the night becomes a blur. She comes in and out of consciousness and she swears she can hear Blake’s voice somewhere close by.

The next morning, Yang wakes up in an unfamiliar place. She shoots up, but throbbing in the right side of her face immediately makes her lay back down. Her knuckles on her right hand are bruised to hell. She’s on a leather couch in a lavish apartment. There’s a fuzzy blue throw blanket covering her body, and a water bottle sitting on the floor next to her.

What the _hell_ did she do last night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got this done sooner than I thought! Apologies for any mistakes; I don’t have a beta reader. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Yang’s eye feels like it’s going to pound out of its socket. The pain combined with the hangover is almost enough to make her puke. She scoops the water bottle off of the floor and downs half of it in one go.

She fishes her phone out of her pocket and opens the front facing camera to see what the damage is. Her right eye is swollen to hell with purple and blue bruises lining the socket and dried blood caked on her cheek. She pokes at it with a curious finger, and to her surprise it _hurts_. Wincing at the contact, she locks her phone and slides it back into her jean pocket. Memories of last night come rushing back to her like the tide coming in. She attacked a guy that was a dick to Blake, but that’s all she can remember.

She looks around at the pristine apartment. Seriously, whoever lives here must be loaded. There are high ceilings and large windows that let in lots of natural light. There are hushed voices coming from a room down the hall, and Yang is curious to know where the hell she is.

Quietly, she moves down the hall until she can make out what is being said. The voices are coming from a room with the door cracked slightly.

“Get her out of here! I don’t want some random girl in our living room.” She doesn’t recognize the voice, but she knows that they do _not_ want her here. She almost turns to leave but then she hears Blake.

“She’s not a ‘random girl’, she’s in my class! I know her! At least let me make sure she’s okay before you kick her out.” There’s heat to her words and Yang can tell that the faunus is irritated with her roommate.

“Fine, but I want her gone after that,” Weiss huffs.

Okay, so she’s in Blake and Weiss’s apartment. She starts to move backwards slowly, step by step, until the door opens and she’s stuck face to face with her English partner. Blake’s cat ears stand straight up in surprise, startled to see Yang standing in front of her when she was passed out in the living room mere minutes ago.

“Uhh,” Yang starts awkwardly, “I was just leaving.” She jerks a thumb at the hallway indicating that she’s heading out.

“Oh, um, can I clean your face first? No offense, but you look like shit.” The faunus points to the side of Yang’s face that is black and blue.

“You should see the other guy,” she says lamely. Yang cringes internally at herself. This isn’t a time to be making jokes.

“Yeah, you broke his nose,” Blake replies matter-of-factly.

“Shit, did I?” She really hopes the police don’t get involved with this.

“There was so much blood. It was kind of amazing actually, if not terrifying at the same time,” Blake grabs her wrist and leads her into the living room. Once they reach the leather couch that she had previously been sleeping on, her partner motions for her to sit down. Blake walks into the kitchen and returns moments later with an ice-pack wrapped in cloth.

“Put this on your eye, I’m going to go get some stuff to wipe the blood off your face.” She tosses the ice-pack to Yang and turns to pad back down the hallway.

Obediently, she presses the cool mass to her eye and feels instant relief. When Blake returns she takes a seat next to Yang, turns and crosses her legs, and faces the girl next to her. Yang follows suit and turns so that she’s also facing Blake.

The faunus brings a wet washcloth to Yang’s eye and pats the skin around it carefully, wiping away the blood that remained. If Blake notices the faded scars on Yang’s chin, she says nothing about them.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” Blake says casually, focused on her work.

Yang sighs, “I know.” She knew they were going to have to talk about her behavior at some point, but for some reason she had hoped it just wouldn’t happen.

“Then why did you?” Blake stops wiping Yang’s face and makes direct eye contact with her. There’s no anger in her expression, just genuine curiosity.

“I was drunk, and I didn’t like the way he was talking to you. That’s pretty much all I’ve got. To be fair, I’ve punched men for less than that,” she chuckles and then flinches in pain as Blake returns to her process and hits a sore spot.

“I don’t need you to protect me. I’ve dealt with assholes like that my entire life.” Her brow is furrowed and Yang wants to smooth the lines there.

She reaches up and places her hand carefully over Blake’s hand that is holding the washcloth to her face.

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to.” Their eyes lock and they look at each other for what feels like a lifetime.

A plate crashes against the kitchen counter and it makes them both jump. Weiss is glaring at them from behind the counter, plate sat in front of her. She looks like she’s had a rough night. Yang takes the hint and moves to get up.

“Well, thanks so much for having me. I think I’m going to head out. I don’t want to overstay my welcome,” Yang grabs her coat off of the ground and makes her way to the door. Icy knives shoot into her back from the look Weiss is giving her.

The faunus follows her to the door and walks her out of the apartment.

“I’m sorry about her. Like I said, she can be a pain,” she shrugs and inspects her partner’s face one last time. “Lucky for you, I don’t think any of your wounds are permanent. You’ll still have your good looks to fall back on.”

“So I’m good looking, huh? Does that mean you still want to go to dinner with me tomorrow?” Yang raises an eyebrow, grinning wide.

“Yeah, it does.” She blushes and her ear flicks adorably.

“I’ll pick you up at 5:45, Belladonna,” the blonde says smiling. Yang debates just kissing her then, but she feels like the timing isn’t right so she stops herself. She opts instead to shoot the girl a finger gun as she walks down the stairs.

Bumblebee is still waiting for her in the parking lot near the rugby house. On the way home, Yang can’t stop her mind from running a million miles a minute. She thinks about the night before and how much her face fucking hurts. She thinks about Weiss and how she’s already made a bad impression on her partner’s roommate. She thinks about Blake and the moment they shared while the beautiful woman was cleaning her face. Most importantly, she doesn’t think about pushing the speedometer on her bike, and she abides by the speed limit the entire ride home.

-

Ruby and their father are lounging around watching a movie when Yang walks through the door. They turn to look at her in perfect synchronization and both gasp at the dark bruises that surround her eye.

“What’d you do to your face, kid?” Taiyang stands up and takes stock of his eldest daughter.

“Kicked some guy’s ass for calling my friend a ‘dirty faunus’. He got a good swing on me,” she answers. She touches her face delicately to test the pain.

Ruby pokes her head up from the couch and sing-songs, “Is that friend Blake?” Yang puts a hand in her face and pushes her over.

“I don’t know who Blake is, but good job. Standing up to a person like that is the right thing to do!” Her father claps her on the back proudly.

“Thanks, dad.” She rolls her eyes. It’s a relief Taiyang hadn’t freaked out when he saw his daughter’s face. Her recent track record with injuries has been troubling. She assumed he would immediately jump to a bike accident as the cause.

“Alright, kids. I’m going to run into town and get some errands done. Don’t blow up the house while I’m gone.” Their father grabs his wallet and keys, and heads to the door. “Yang do you want anything for your face?”

The elder daughter launches herself onto their old beat up recliner and leans it all the way back.

“Advil, please!” she shouts as her father is halfway out the door.

He throws her a thumbs up, “Got it!”

Once the door closes Ruby narrows her eyes at Yang. Here come the questions.

“So, did you spend the night at Blake’s place?” she feigns casual interest but Yang knows better.

“More like,” she thinks on it for a second, “I passed out and she took me back to her apartment and threw me on the couch.”

“Wow. You really know how to woo a girl!” Ruby cackles at her sister’s expense.

“Here’s the kicker: she _still_ wants to go out with me,” Yang laughs at the hilarity of the whole thing.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a keeper.” Her sister points her finger in Yang’s face to emphasize her statement.

Yang smiles to herself. “Yeah, maybe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feels good to have inspiration to write! I literally can’t stop! Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

On Monday, their professor cancels class. As much as Yang would have liked to see Blake in class, she’s glad she has the extra time to prepare mentally for their date tonight. She usually isn’t this giddy before a date, but this date is with  _ Blake.  _ The universe graced her with a chance to be with Blake Belladonna, and she can’t let tonight be anything less than perfect.

Now that she has the entire day to kill before picking up her English partner, she figures she has some time to work on Bumblebee to calm herself down. The oil desperately needs to be changed, so she opens up the garage and turns on the radio. She lets her mind go blank as she does routine maintenance on her motorcycle with rock music blasting in the background. Around 4:00pm, when she’s covered in grease, she stops working on her bike and hops into the shower.

At 4:30pm Yang is staring at her reflection in the mirror. The bruises around her eye are starting to fade into light purples and browns, signifying healing. If only her face could have been pristine for tonight. She’s trying not to psych herself up too much. Getting nervous and overthinking is the last thing she should be doing right now.

Ninety percent of the time Yang prefers to dress masculinely, so she decides on a white button up with form fitting red slacks and her famous leather jacket for tonight. What will her date wear? Yang knows without a doubt that Blake will look gorgeous in anything she wears, and her heart swells with anticipation of seeing her partner soon. 

Her phone vibrates against the white marble of the sink and there’s a spike of hope that it’s Blake texting her about tonight. She’s not so lucky.

_ Neon: how you feeling sexy? u took a pretty hard hit the other night </3 _

_ Yang: i’m fine _

If she was smart, she wouldn’t be replying. She needs to stop indulging this damn girl.

_ Neon: i wanted to warn you about that kitty cat you were making eyes at _

Yang doesn’t respond. She doesn’t want to hear this shit. There is not a bone in her body that gives a fuck about what Neon has to say regarding Blake. After a few minutes, her phone rumbles again.

_ Neon: she’s got an ex bf who has some interesting things to say abt her!!! _

Anger starts to build like a fire in her chest. With a few quick taps, Yang blocks Neon’s number. In reality, she should have done it long ago. Her fling with Neon is irrelevant now; there’s no reason to be in contact with her.

Blake’s past is not something that she wants to hear secondhand from someone like Neon. If they get to a point where Blake feels comfortable enough to talk to Yang about her past relationships, then she’ll learn about them when the time comes.

She pushes thoughts of what Neon said out of her head and focuses on what’s important: her date with Blake. It’s already 5:23pm and she needs to leave now if she wants to make it to Blake’s on time. She sends a text to let her date know she’s on the way.

_ Yang: leaving my house now :) _

She gets a response almost immediately.

_ Blake: See you soon! _

Yang can’t help the smile that spreads across her face. On the way out of the house, she runs into Ruby who is doing homework (most likely math) at the kitchen table. She has a hand pressed to her forehead and looks utterly defeated, but lights up when she sees her older sister

“Have fun on your date!” Ruby gives her two big thumbs-up. “I’ll be here dying in mountains of equations until you get back,” she says as she turns back to her work.

“Thanks, Rubes. Good luck with the homework, dude! Don’t work your brain too hard.” She grabs the keys for Bumblebee off of the counter and steps out into the evening.

The air is clear and the moon is starting to shine in the sky as dusk falls. She feels the familiar sense that something important is happening, but she doesn’t understand quite yet what it is.

-

When she pulls into the visitor parking of Beacon Hall, it is exactly 5:45pm. Blake is sat on the steps at the entrance to her apartment. As Blake approaches her, the breath is almost knocked out of Yang at how beautiful she is. She has her long black hair pulled up into a loose bun, and she’s wearing a short black dress that stops at her lower thigh. The dress is low shouldered and accentuates the curves of her body. Yang can feel her mouth going dry.

“You look amazing,” is the only thing she can manage to say. She doesn’t know what to do with her hands.

Blake smiles bashfully, “So do you. Your eye is looking a lot better.” She brings a hand to cup Yang’s cheek as she checks the bruising there. Her palm is cool against Yang’s skin, but she feels like her touch ignites a fire.

“Your chariot awaits, m’am,” she says and gestures towards where Bumblebee is parked.

Blake presses close against Yang while they ride towards the restaurant. Yang’s heart hammers so loudly against her chest that she’s afraid Blake will be able to hear it over the roar of the engine.

The italian place Yang picked out is locally owned, and honestly, the only decent spot to get italian food in the entire area. They are seated at a table near the center of the restaurant. It’s not too busy on a Monday night, but there’s still a good crowd of people. A low buzz of dozens of different conversations fills the room. Fairy lights hang across the ceiling and candles burn on every table.

“Wow, this is really nice,” Blake says glancing up at the lights that cover the ceiling.

“Wait until you try the food!” She pulls out Blake’s chair for her.

They take a few minutes to look over the menu before they’re ready to order. The waiter comes by, dressed in a clean white shirt with a black tie. Yang gets her usual, cheese tortellini with pesto sauce, and Blake orders the chicken parmesan.

Blake folds her hands in front of her. “So, I think I’ve convinced Weiss to give you a second chance.”

“Man, does she really hate me  _ that _ much?” Yang chuckles nervously.

Blake taps a finger to her chin thoughtfully, “It’s not that she hates you, she just wasn’t a fan of having to carry you around the other night.”

“She what?” Yang gapes.

“Did I not tell you? After you passed out, Weiss and I hauled you out of there before the cops could come. Getting you up the stairs was the difficult part. You’re  _ so  _ fucking tall,” Blake laughs at the memory of she and her friend trying to drag Yang up to their apartment.

“Oh my god, that’s so embarrassing!” Yang covers her face with her hands in shame.

“No really, don’t be embarrassed!” she says as she laughs and reaches out to remove Yang’s hands from her face. “Weiss was just a little pissy afterwards because I think she would have otherwise been getting laid.”

“Wow, I can’t believe I fucked that up for her. I wouldn’t give myself a second chance if I were her,” she says and then takes a sip of her ice water.

“She’ll get over it. I think you guys would get along, actually. Maybe after you get to know each other,” Blake says. At this moment their waiter returns with their food. They take a minute to test their respective dishes. Everything is perfectly made.

It strikes Yang that she doesn’t know all that much about Blake, even though it feels like they’ve known each other for years.

“Blake, what are you majoring in?” Among college students, this is normally the first question asked of each other. Typically it seems boring and meaningless to her, but Yang finds herself curious as to what Blake plans on doing with her career.

She chews her food carefully before answering, “Double major in Psychology and English. What about you?” 

“Currently majoring in ‘undecided’ until I can figure out what I want to do with my life,” Yang replies easily. In the past there were talks with her father about Yang going to trade school to become a mechanic, but Summer had always wanted both of the girls to go to a university, so the conversations never got far.

“I get that. It always feels like there’s so much pressure on people our age to decide right now exactly what we want to do for the next forty years. It’s too much.” Blake gives her a sympathetic look, and Yang feels an itch to reach over the table and hold her hand.

“Exactly! My dad is always telling me that an education is everything, but honestly, I just want to work on machines.” Yang wishes she had the backbone to just drop out of school and pursue a career as a mechanic, but she doesn’t know if she could stand the disappointment from her father.

“You would be really good at that! Your motorcycle always looks stunning,” Blake says as she cuts another bite of her chicken.

“Complimenting my bike is basically a marriage proposal, Belladonna. I hope you realize that.” Yang points a fork at Blake in warning, a big grin gracing her face. 

“Well, we’d better start planning the wedding.” Blake smiles back at her and scrunches her nose.

Yang laughs happily and takes another bite of her pasta. This girl really is something else.

“So what do you do for fun?” Yang asks casually.

“Read, mostly. I don’t go out too much. That night at the party was an anomaly,” Blake replies.

“What are you reading right now?” Yang asks, genuinely interested.

Blake’s cat ears twitch and she stumbles momentarily. “Oh, um, nothing important. Just some assigned reading from my classes.”

They continue to talk, eat, and laugh together as the date progresses in perfect bliss. They talk about Blake’s parents and where she grew up, they talk about what Yang was like in elementary school and how she got into fights all the time on the playground, and they talk about how Blake wants more than anything to travel the world someday. 

At the end of the night when Yang is walking Blake to her apartment door, Blake fists her hands in Yang’s shirt and pushes her flush against the front door. Blake’s mouth muffles the sound of surprise from Yang, but then Yang melts into the embrace and kisses the girl back with the same eagerness. Her hands find themselves on Blake’s waist, and one travels to the small of her back.

Blake is kissing her like there isn’t enough time, and the fast pace leaves Yang out of breath. When they both need to stop for air, Yang presses her forehead to Blake’s, breathing heavily.

“Sorry,” Blake says airily.

“No need to apologize for that.” Yang dares to lean in and take her lips into a slower, more intimate kiss. Blake sighs into her mouth and Yang realizes that she should leave before she’s not able to make herself go.

She forces herself to cut the kiss short. Yang takes Blake’s hand in hers.

“I like you a lot, Blake.” Yang means it more than she’s meant anything in a long time.

Blake smiles and looks to the ground. “Do you want to come over tomorrow? Maybe you can convince Weiss that you’re not a degenerate.”

Yang’s laughs, “I’d love that. I’ll try my best to win her over.”

She stands on her toes and kisses Yang on the cheek chastely. “Get out of here, Xiao Long.” She playfully pushes Yang on the shoulder.

As Yang drives home through the night, she knows that something about her English partner is special, and she’s not going to let this slip through her fingers. Not like everything else in her life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love U-Haul lesbians who joke about marriage on the first date. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

The next evening, they are watching one of Blake’s favorite movies on the couch in her apartment. They had started completely separate from each other, but as the movie progressed, and they laughed and flirted with each other, they gravitated together like magnets.

Now, they find themselves pressed against each other. Yang’s arm is thrown around Blake’s shoulders, with Blake’s head nestled against Yang’s chest. It’s cloudy and cold outside with rain that mists every so often. Tonight is a perfect night to stay inside and do nothing.

Yang looks down and notices that Blake has her eyes closed. She looks peaceful, as if she’s going to fall asleep on the spot.

“Tired?” she inquires when Blake yawns.

“Yeah. I haven’t been able to get that much sleep lately,” she says as she curls in tighter to Yang.

“Any reason why?” Yang frowns, concerned that Blake isn’t getting the amount of rest that she should be.

There’s a beat of silence between them before Blake replies, “It’s a lot of different things.” She then changes the subject. “Seriously, though. How are you so warm all the time? You radiate heat.”

Yang’s laugh reverberates in her chest, as she allows Blake to change the subject. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.

“I’ve always been hot blooded.” She grins and squeezes Blake’s arm.

“Lucky for me.” Blake closes her eyes again, relaxing fully into Yang.

They try to finish the movie, but it’s not long before Yang hears a soft snore come from the woman against her chest. She listens to the even pattern of Blake’s breathing, and feels herself start to fade out of consciousness as well. The warmth in the room accompanied by the patter of rain outside and the snores from Blake lull her to sleep.

That’s how Weiss finds them when she returns from an evening class some time later. They’re cuddled together, sleeping soundly. She rolls her eyes and snaps a picture to hold over Blake’s head later. Weiss shuts off the light to the living room so the two can sleep in the darkness, and she heads to her bedroom to get herself ready for bed.

It’s 2:13am when Yang finally wakes from her impromptu nap. Her neck is sore and stiff from falling asleep sitting up, but it’s worth it when she sees Blake wrapped in her arms. Her cheeks are rosy with sleep and Yang is hesitant to wake her.

Eventually, Yang decides that she needs to drive home. She debates whether or not she should let Blake sleep or wake her up, so she decides to carry the sleeping girl bridal style to her bedroom and deposit her gently onto the comforter. Blake stirs briefly, looking at Yang with sleepy, half-lidded eyes.

“Are you leaving? What time is it?” She rubs her face. Her hair is mussed and she looks so cute that Yang’s heart clenches.

“It’s two in the morning. I’m going to drive home, but I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” She smooths Blake’s hair.

“Okay,” Blake yawns, “please be safe. The roads are dangerous at night.”

Yang smiles and leans down to place a kiss on Blake’s forehead. Blake tilts her head up for a kiss on the lips and Yang complies happily. It feels natural; it feels right. Yang pulls away and gives her a wink.

“I’m always safe.” She knows it’s a lie, but it sounds good in the moment and she doesn’t want Blake to worry.

She does drive safely on the way home. On a dark road with no other cars that she would normally speed down without a second thought, she goes exactly the speed limit and only thinks of Blake.

-

The next day, Blake doesn’t show up for class. Yang is a little worried. She has never missed a class. Yang shoots her a text, checking in.

_Yang: everything ok?_

After ten minutes with no response, she starts to think Blake may have overslept. She did say she wasn’t getting enough sleep. 

Finally, she gets a response.

_Blake: I’m okay. Just dealing with some things._

How very cryptic of her. Yang is more than concerned at this point.

_Yang: anything i can help with?_

She sees that Blake starts typing, then stops, and then starts again.

_Blake: Yeah, actually. Can you come over?_

_Yang: be there in 15_

She grabs her bag and leaves class early. Grades be damned, something’s going on with Blake and she needs to be there.

-

When she knocks on Blake’s apartment door fourteen minutes later, it’s Weiss who answers. The girl seems about as thrilled to see Yang as could be expected.

“Heyyy, Weiss…” she fidgets under the girl’s unimpressed stare, “I came to see Blake.”

“I figured that much,” Weiss drawls.

“Also, I want to apologize to you about the night at the party,” She explains slowly, not wanting to provoke Blake’s roommate. “I got way too drunk, and that guy I fought said some really nasty things to Blake. I didn’t think it through.”

Weiss seems genuinely surprised at Yang’s apology, her mouth open in surprise.

“It’s...fine. Blake wouldn’t repeat to me what that asshole said, so I’m sure you had good reason. Please try to handle your liquor next time.” Weiss shrugs, and Yang hopes that she might be warming up to her.

“Absolutely. Definitely not getting that fucked up again. Plus, if I had been sober, that guy wouldn’t have gotten a swing on me in the first place.” She points to her almost fully healed eye.

Weiss rolls her eyes, “Sure. Blake’s in her room.” She steps aside, allowing Yang to enter.

The door to Blake’s room is closed, so Yang taps her knuckles against the door.

“Hey, it’s me,” she says as she knocks.

“Come in,” comes the quiet voice of Blake from inside.

When she enters, she sees Blake curled into herself, sitting on her bed. Her knees are pulled to her chest and her ears are low against her head. Her eyes are puffy and red as if she has been crying.

“Whoah, what’s wrong? What happened?” Yang kneels next to the bed and takes Blake’s hand in hers.

“I didn’t want to tell you about all this — not so soon.” She looks up at Yang, and there's shame in her watery, amber eyes. “I feel a lot better when you’re around, though,” she admits as she gives Yang a half-smile.

“I want to be around to help you feel better,” Yang says and then places a kiss on Blake’s hand.

“I have an ex-boyfriend,” Blake starts. Yang thinks back to what Neon said, but quickly blocks that from her mind as she gives Blake her full attention.

“We met at a pro-faunus rally when I was sixteen and he was twenty-two,” her voice shakes as she continues. “We started dating while I was still in high school and he went to school here. He was really nice to me, until he wasn’t anymore...” Yang squeezes her hand in encouragement to continue.

“He started to hurt me, physically, if I did anything that upset him. He would always accuse me of cheating on him, or planning to leave him, or whatever else he’d convince himself I’d done,” Blake says, and tears begin to well up in her eyes.

“He graduated from school before I even got the chance to start applying for colleges. He wanted me to skip going to college completely and move with him to a new city. When I said no, we got into a big argument and he finally gave up and left me alone. I haven’t seen him since.” Blake exhales and looks at Yang directly.

“I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel sorry for me, or be angry for me. I’ve been getting texts from a friend from high school saying that he’s asking about me again, and I’m so scared he’s going to come back for me, Yang.” Her eyes are wide with fear and Yang wants nothing but to make it go away, but she doesn’t know how.

“If he does, I promise, nothing’s going to happen to you.” Yang pulls Blake in for a hug; she wants to assure her that she’s safe. She holds the shaking girl tight against her.

“I’m sorry that I’m dumping all of this on you when we’ve only known each other for a week,” she sniffles.

“Don’t say that,” Yang whispers, “I don’t know if you’ve felt this way before, but I haven’t ever liked someone as much as I like you, Blake. You can tell me anything.”

Blake pulls back and brings a hand to cup Yang’s face, and her thumb runs over the faded scars that mar Yang’s jaw.

“The same goes for you. You can tell me anything.” She leans in and kisses Yang’s cheek, and then her lips. The kiss is salty from Blake’s crying, but it’s slow and without the fervor and lust of their first kiss. Somehow, it means more, Yang thinks to herself.

-

The rest of the night is relatively light compared to the heavy truth of Blake’s ex-boyfriend. Blake cuddles into a large fuzzy blanket on the couch and watches Yang cook them dinner using random items found in the fridge. It comes out pretty tasty, surprisingly.

Blake listens to Yang and Weiss argue over what movie they should watch (an action film or a documentary), and she feels like maybe she does deserve more than what she had with Adam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was some finale, huh? Here’s to a volume 8 Bumbleby kiss! Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

A few days later, Blake and Yang are at the farmer’s market that takes place every Saturday in the park near their school’s campus. The selection of produce is always varied and colorful. It’s the only good place for students to get cheap fruits and vegetables weekly.

There’s a coffee stand that posts up on the corner next to the market, and Blake swears by their lattes. The girls stop to get some caffeine and then continue their stroll. It’s a beautiful day. If one was to stand in the sun, it's warm and pleasant, but the shade is cool and will remind them that it’s still technically winter.

They walk side by side, and Yang’s finger twitches as she feels the urge to hold Blake’s hand, but she’s not quite sure if she’s allowed to. Holding hands might be too intimate and too public a display of affection for Blake. Her mind travels back to the conversation she had with Ruby yesterday.

“So, are you dating Blake?” Ruby had asked gleefully.

“Uh, we’re like, going out on dates, but I don’t think she’s my girlfriend.” Yang told her, not quite sure what she would call her relationship with Blake.

“You don’t think she’s your girlfriend? Isn’t that something you should know?” Ruby asked. Her sister has a point.

They haven’t talked about labels at all, and Yang knows that Blake has had bad experiences with relationships, so she wants it to happen on Blake’s terms. Yang doesn’t want to risk something good by rushing to put a label on it if Blake isn’t ready.

She shakes back to the present when Blake asks her if she wants to go to the bookstore across the street. Watching Blake in a bookstore is entrancing. She heads immediately for the fiction section in the very back of the store, she pulls out whatever catches her eye and carefully flips through it, as if she’s looking for something specific. Yang steps behind her and wraps her arms around Blake’s middle. She places a kiss to the curve of her neck and she feels the girl shiver.

Yang continues to lay kisses upon Blake’s neck until she reaches her pulse point, then she pauses and presses a slow kiss there and smiles when she hears a sharp intake of breath from Blake.

“Easy there, tiger.” She turns in Yang’s arms and quickly kisses her cheek, then rushes to the counter to pay for the book that she was looking at. Yang’s shoulders slump and she starts to feel self conscious about the moment between them. Maybe she had pushed it too far. Before she can get too trapped in her own head, Blake grabs her hand and she is dragged out of the book store.

Blake leads them all the way back to her apartment and Yang follows, confused about what’s going on. The second the door is closed, Yang is pressed against it. Blake is kissing her, and Yang doesn’t have much time to process what’s just happened. Blake’s tongue brushes her bottom lip and Yang happily opens her mouth to allow entry. She feels electricity run through her spine and she surges forward, lifting Blake. Blake hums in surprise and wraps her legs around Yang’s hips as she allows herself to be carried to the bedroom.

Yang leans her back onto the bed, kissing her fervently, like it’s the only thing that matters. In this moment, Blake _is_ all that matters. Blake removes her own shirt with haste. Yang marvels at the expanse of her dark skin, and the curves of her body. She takes her time and kisses down Blake’s neck as the girl squirms against her. Yang knows that Blake is impatient and wanting, but she needs to go slow with this.

As she’s kissing her way across Blake’s chest, her fingers undo the buttons of Blake’s jeans. Blake cants her hips upwards, seeking friction. Yang looks up at her and gives her a shit-eating grin at the girl’s eagerness, but Blake’s eyes are dark and heavy with lust, which shuts her up quick.

After she’s divested Blake of her pants, there’s only a thin layer of cotton between she and her prize. She moves down low and bites the flesh of Blake’s inner thigh, holding her still with her muscled arms. Yang soon finds herself drowning in Blake, and she’s not seeking any reprieve.

-

Later, they’re lying in bed, sheets covering their bodies, and limbs tangled together. Yang is exhausted but her mind is still running a thousand miles a minute. Should she ask Blake to be her girlfriend? Is she rushing it? They hang out almost every day, and they do things that people in a relationship typically do. What if Blake just sees this as a friends with benefits deal? Gods, she wishes they had talked about this.

Yang only notices she’s frowning when Blake pokes the corner of her mouth.

“What are you thinking about?” Blake asks, adjusting herself so her head is resting in the crook of Yang’s neck.

“Oh, nothing,” she gives Blake a smile that she hopes doesn’t look forced.

“Remember when I said you could tell me anything?” she looks concerned, and Yang really doesn’t want to have this conversation right now.

“But I don’t want to burst this like, bubble, that we’re in right now.” Yang kicks herself on the inside. What a weird way to put it.

“Bubble?” Blake sits up a bit. She looks thoroughly confused.

“What do you want to call this? Us,” Yang asks as she gestures between them. “If you don’t want to be in a relationship, that’s fine, I just would like to know what we are.” She’s starting to babble so she stops herself before she can keep talking.

“Yang, do you want to be in a relationship?” Blake’s expression is unreadable, and Yang braces herself for rejection.

”I don’t know,” she lies. She feels herself shrinking.

Blake’s unreadable expression turns into a look of resolve. She takes Yang’s hands in hers, her palms cool against the heat of Yang’s.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” Blake asks her bluntly.

Yang smiles in surprise and leans in to kiss Blake on the lips. “Yeah, only if you’ll be mine,” she answers after the kiss breaks.

Blake chuckles, “Honestly, I thought _you_ didn’t want to be official.”

“Why would you think that?” Yang gapes at her.

“I don’t know, I thought maybe you wanted to be casual and see other people too. You were at that party with that Neon girl, and she was all over you,” Blake explains, frowning slightly.

“No, no! I’ll admit, I had a previous thing with her, but that ended before I even met you.” Yang kisses her firmly in assurance.

Blake grins and kisses her back, fisting her hand in Yang’s hair. “Well, that’s good to know. Glad I have you all to myself now.”

At the risk of being cheesy, Yang says: “You had me before now.”

Blake’s eyes flash with something else, and she throws a leg over Yang’s lap and straddles her. She kisses Yang’s neck, her dark hair a curtain draping down beside them. Yang threads her fingers through it, and she releases her doubts and fear of rejection as Blake’s hand snakes its way into her underwear.

-

For the first time in a long time, Yang can say that she’s happy. Genuinely happy. For a while she almost forgets that the anniversary of her mother leaving is looming over her like a dark shadow, set to consume everything good that it touches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More angst coming pretty soon, folks. Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Yang is doing homework at the kitchen table when Ruby sidles up next to her. Yang raises an eyebrow at her expectantly, waiting for her to ask whatever she’s getting ready to ask.

“So, how’s it going?” Ruby starts, intent clear in her tone. 

“Homework? It’s fine,” she answers, purposefully avoiding Ruby’s meaning.

“Nooo,” Ruby whines. “How’s it going with  _ Blake?” _

Yang laughs at Ruby’s dramatics. She thinks about the conversation she had with Blake a few days ago. When Blake had asked her to be her girlfriend, Yang’s heart almost stopped. She’s never been in a real relationship before, so she’s not quite sure how these things usually shake out. After Summer died, it was up to Yang to make sure things kept running around the house while their father turned to drink in order to numb his pain. 

When Yang was in middle school, she helped Ruby get up in the morning, made her lunch, and got her on the bus in a timely fashion. Then when they would get home from school, Yang would help Ruby with her homework and make dinner for the both of them. Even when their father had mostly recovered from his time drowning his sorrows in beer and liquor, old habits die hard, and Yang has always been the one to take care of things in their family. This never left Yang much time to date, or form attachments with anyone outside of her father and sister.

While her peers in high school were pairing off, Yang was busy raising her sister and tending to her drunken father. She hopes that she’s going to be a good girlfriend to Blake; she doesn’t really know what she’s doing.

“Well, she  _ is _ my girlfriend now,” Yang answers nonchalantly.

“No way!” Ruby squeals. “I need to meet her!”

Yang imagines Ruby meeting Blake, and more hilariously, meeting  _ Weiss.  _ Ruby is definitely a little high energy for Weiss, but she can see her and Blake getting on well.

“I think you would like her, Rubes. I’m going over there tonight, I’ll ask if you can come!” She whips out her phone to text her girlfriend.

-

When they show up at Blake’s, Ruby is practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. 

She gives Blake a big hug when they first meet, much to Yang’s embarrassment.

“I’ve heard so much about you!” Ruby exclaims, still hugging Blake tightly. 

“All good things, I hope,” Blake smiles, returning the hug easily.

“Great things!” Ruby leans in conspiratorially to Blake to whisper, “I’ve never seen her this happy.”

Yang claps her hands together to avoid Ruby saying anything else mortifying. “Alright! Let’s order dinner, guys!” She says loudly. Yang pokes her head into Weiss’s room, where she’s sitting cross-legged on her bedspread with papers and textbooks splayed over the bed.

“You have any preferences on where we order food from, Weiss?” Blake’s roommate has been so stressed about school that she’s barely come out of her bedroom for the past week.

“Get whatever,” Weiss replies without looking up, waving a hand at Yang to leave her room.

Ruby and Blake are sitting on the couch and are hitting it off. Yang suspects they’re talking about her.

“Weiss was no help. Do you guys just want to get Chinese?” Yang asks as she grabs the menu Blake keeps on her fridge.

Blake and Ruby agree enthusiastically, and Yang orders enough food to feed a small army. She orders steamed pork dumplings, crab wontons, egg rolls, chicken fried rice, and anything else that looks good on the menu.

Yang’s phone starts to ring a little while later, and she jumps up to slip on her shoes. “Food’s here! I’ll be right back.”

Once she’s out the door, Ruby and Blake continue to chat about Yang. “You guys are moving pretty quickly,” Ruby observes.

“I know, but we have this really strong connection. It feels like we’ve known each other our whole lives,” Blake says. She has thought about how quickly her relationship with Yang is developing. Logically, maybe it should scare her, but it  _ feels _ like it’s moving at the exact right pace, so she doesn’t worry about it.

“I’m not judging! Yang is really excited about it. I like seeing her this happy,” Ruby assures her.

“At this rate, I’m sure I’ll be meeting the parents soon,” Blake laughs and nudges Ruby with her elbow.

“Just ‘parent.’ We only have our dad.” Ruby says awkwardly.

“Oh, sorry. She did mention to me that it’s just you guys and your dad,” she backtracks, wishing she hadn’t forgotten.

“It’s okay, really! Our mom passed so long ago, I’m fine talking about it now.” Ruby smiles sadly at Blake. 

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Ruby.” She puts a hand on the girl’s shoulder in hopes of being comforting. “Yang didn’t tell me that she passed away.”

“She never talks about her. I was really young when she died, so I don’t remember that much about her, but it was harder on Yang,” Ruby explains.

“I wish she had said something,” Blake says, frowning.

It’s in that moment that Yang comes barging in the front door, hauling multiple bags of food. “Come and get it!” she shouts as she dumps it all on the small table near the kitchen.

Blake is visibly shaken by the new information, but tries her best to put on a good face during dinner. Weiss comes crawling out of the cave that is her room, and steals some rice and egg rolls for herself.

“Alright, I’m going back to my work,” Weiss says sullenly, eyes drooping in exhaustion.

“Are you  _ still  _ doing math?” Blake asks her incredulously. 

Weiss groans. “Yes. I probably will be for the rest of my natural life. I need my beauty sleep! This is not sustainable.”

Ruby perks up. “What math are you doing?” she asks, trying not to sound too interested. Yang chuckles at how nerdy her sister is.

“Calc 2,” Weiss answers without paying Ruby much mind.

“I did that last year! I can probably help if you’re having trouble!” Ruby remarks cheerfully.

Weiss regards her with her eyebrow raised. “How  _ old  _ are you?”

“I’m seventeen! But I’m pretty far ahead in the math classes at my school.” Ruby pops a piece of chicken into her mouth.

Weiss thinks about it for a minute, then shrugs. “Fine, come on,” she turns on her heel and walks back into her room. Ruby scrambles to follow her, excited to get a chance to work on college level calculus 2 problems.

Yang laughs, leaning back into the couch and putting an arm around Blake. “I give it thirty minutes before she drives Weiss insane.”

Blake feels stiff next to her, and Yang looks to see that her ears are drooping. She doesn’t make eye contact with Yang and she glances at the floor. Yang’s heart aches seeing her upset, but she’s not even sure what’s happened.

“What’s wrong?” Yang asks, removing her arm from around her girlfriend.

“Why didn’t you tell me that your mother passed away?” Blake doesn’t seem angry at her, just sad.

This hits Yang like a freight train from out of nowhere. How the hell does Blake know about that? Yang remembers the few minutes she was gone to grab the food. It must have come up when Blake was talking to her sister. Again she finds herself having a conversation with Blake that she isn’t ready to have just yet.

“Um,” she mumbles, “I don’t usually tell anybody about that.”

“I get that, but you could have told  _ me.  _ That’s a big deal, and I just had no idea,” Blake is looking at her with pity, which is exactly what Yang was afraid of.

“I didn’t want  _ this _ to happen,” she says as she gestures to Blake. “People always look at you differently when they find out you have a dead mom. I didn’t want you to look at me differently,” Yang sighs and puts her face in her hands and feels her breath start to quicken.

Blake doesn’t know what to say, or what to do with her hands. If she comforts Yang, it’s going to seem too much like pity, which isn’t what her girlfriend needs right now.

“I’m sorry. This is about you, and I’m making it too much about me.” Blake grabs one of Yang’s hands and threads their fingers together. She doesn’t know how to fix it.

“I just need to breathe for a minute,” her voice is shaky as images of Summer lying in the hospital bed invade her mind. She’s skin and bones and she’s gesturing for Yang to come sit on the edge of the mattress so that she can braid her hair. Her smile never got any duller even as she got sicker and sicker. Her cheeks hollowed, and her eyes grew dark with rings around them, but she always greeted her children with the same bright smile.

Yang closes her eyes, willing the memories to go away. She almost gets up and leaves to run to her bike, but before she can a warmth envelops her. It’s Blake. She’s adjusting them on the couch so that Yang is lying back against Blake’s chest. She covers them with a blanket and holds her like that for a long time. Yang’s breath evens out eventually, and she’s able to think clearly again.

“I’m sorry,” Yang says quietly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Blake replies, kissing her head. Yang thinks that she’s wrong. She should be sorry for not being open with her girlfriend. Her heart floods with guilt when she remembers that Blake has no clue about her birth mother, but Yang isn’t in the mental state to even think about opening that can of worms. She screws her eyes shut and only focuses on Blake’s breathing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little taste of angst for you fine people. Literally only listened to Tracy Chapman’s discography while working on this. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Yang is doing pull-ups on the bar attached to her door frame when she hears a ping from her phone. She wipes her face off with a towel, body covered in sweat from the exercises she’s been working at for a couple of hours. Now that she stays at Blake’s eighty percent of the time, she’s been seriously slacking on her workout routine. She constantly catches Blake ogling her muscles, so she wants to keep them tight for her girlfriend.

Coincidentally, it’s Blake who’s texting her.

_ Blake: Yang _

That’s not good. Yang crosses her fingers that she’s not in trouble for something.

_ Yang: yeah babe? _

_ Blake: Is your birthday tomorrow? _

Oh  _ fuck. _ How does she know about that? Yang racks her brain for any time she may have told Blake when her birthday is, but she comes up short.

_ Yang: uhhhhhhhh _

_ Blake: Yang Xiao Long you better tell me if your birthday is tomorrow. _

Oh no, the full name. She’s not going to lie to Blake. There’s no way she’s going to lie to Blake. She considers lying to Blake…for just a minute, but then she decides against it. Even though she’s never had a real relationship, she knows enough to know that lying isn’t a good idea.

_ Yang: ok so ya, it is. but I really don’t want to celebrate!!! _

_ Blake: Why not? _

_ Yang: idk! it’s just not a big deal to me _

_ Blake: Okay, but I want to celebrate because you’re important to me and I want to celebrate *you* _

_ Yang: blughhhhh _

_ Blake: I have a proposal _

_ Yang: is it something i’m going to like? ;)  _

_ Blake: If us having a quiet, candlelit dinner at my place is what you had in mind, then yes :) _

Gods, she’s so adorable. Her attempt to rile Blake up has failed, and Yang is instead the one swooning. She loves when Blake sends emojis; it’s few and far between.

_ Yang: hmmmm _

_ Blake: And then after… _

_ Yang: say no more, i’m in. as long as i get to spend it with you, we can celebrate _

_ Blake: Ok now you’re just being cute _

_ Yang: i’m always cute >:) _

Yang thinks that maybe this birthday won’t be so bad. Sure, she doesn’t usually celebrate due to it being a precursor to the anniversary of Raven rejecting her, but maybe with Blake she can make some new associations with her birthday. Happy ones.

She takes a picture of herself post-workout, shirt pulled up to show her abs that are still slick with sweat, and sends it to Blake. Her girlfriend has a class starting right now, and Yang is sure she’s going to get a flustered text from Blake about sending her pictures like that when she’s in public. She chuckles as she imagines the look on Blake’s face. Maybe this birthday will be better. 

-

The next morning, Yang wakes up to Ruby yelling. This isn’t an odd occurrence on her birthday, but damn if it doesn’t jolt her awake every time.

“Happy birthday!!!” Ruby shouts, and jumps onto Yang’s bed.

“Thanks, Rubes.” Yang yawns, stretching her arms. They’re still sore from yesterday.

“Do you have any plans for your special day?” Ruby asks, like she knows something.

“I’m going over to Blake’s for dinner,” Yang answers, catching on that Ruby probably already knows this. “Did you tell her when my birthday is?”

“I did, but I swear I was only trying to help! She was going to find out eventually!” As Ruby defends herself, her voice goes an octave higher. 

“I’m not mad, I just wish everybody wouldn’t make such a big deal about it,” Yang explains as she rolls out of bed to get ready for the day. She has English class in a few hours, then she’s going to hang out at Blake’s before they start on dinner.

“You always pretend your birthday isn’t happening! It’s dumb. You need to celebrate,” Ruby exclaims. 

This causes Yang to bristle a bit. “I don’t celebrate because I don’t like having another reminder that I wasn’t good enough for her. You know that.” She tries not to let the anger come through in her voice, but she fails. Ruby’s eyes go wide at the outburst.

“Yang, you know that’s not why she,” her sister starts, but Yang doesn’t want to listen. She storms to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Ruby means well, but Yang doesn’t need her sister to tell her what Raven’s reasons were. She’s heard it all before from her father.  _ Your mother just needed to find herself. Raven didn’t want to be tied down. She loved you, she just had her own issues.  _ She’s sick and tired of listening to that bullshit. If Raven cared about her, she’d still be here.

Yang sniffs and wipes away tears that threaten to fall. She needs to pull it together. Today is supposed to be a nice day with her girlfriend, she can’t let this ruin that.

-

When she arrives on campus, she sees Blake waiting for her outside of the brick building their classroom is in. Blake gives her a small wave as she parks Bumblebee. When Yang approaches, she leans down and gives her girlfriend a quick kiss.

“Aww, you waited for me. It’s almost like you like me or something,” she smiles, lips still a few inches from Blake’s

“Definitely not.” Blake makes a mock face of disgust, and then kisses her girlfriend again. “Happy birthday,” she whispers, grabbing Yang’s warm hand to hold.

“Thanks, babe.” They walk hand in hand to class. “What are we going to have for dinner?”

“It’s a surprise! But we’ll make it together. You’re much better at cooking than I am,” Blake says as she takes her seat.

Yang laughs and takes her seat as well. She hardly pays attention the entire lecture (what else is new), and she keeps looking back to give Blake funny faces. Blake, who is trying genuinely hard to learn something, keeps scolding Yang and motioning for her to pay attention, but she can’t help but laugh at her stupid girlfriend’s antics.

-

“We’re making pesto tortellini!” Blake’s smile is brighter than the sun could ever dream of being. She holds up a couple of ingredients to show Yang, who is touched at the choice of dish. 

“Like what I got on our first date?” Yang looks at her girlfriend in disbelief. “Holy shit, you’ve got a good memory, babe.”

“Only when it comes to you,” the faunus says with a wink, then pauses. “I was trying to be romantic, but actually, I do have a really good memory in general.”

“Hm, I say we skip dinner and go directly to dessert,” Yang says in a low voice as she steps behind Blake and frames her body with her own.

“No, no. I said we’re making you a birthday dinner, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Don’t try to get out of it.” She steps away from a pouting Yang and grabs a large pot from the cabinet.

They make the pasta together, Yang being more distracting than she is helpful. Her hands travel to the curve of Blake’s ass on multiple occasions while Blake tries to make the pesto sauce. At one point, Yang is fully pressed against Blake while she stirs the boiling tortellinis. 

“You really have no sense of patience, do you?” Blake remarks as she leans back into Yang, her ear flicking in pent up frustration.

“The food looks good, but there’s only one thing I’m hungry for,” she says and bites down lightly on Blake’s shoulder.

“Oh my gods,” Blake complains and smacks a hand to her forehead, “you’re so corny.”

Yang is about to make a joke about how she’s “horny, not corny”, but Blake switches off the eyes of the stove and turns around to kiss Yang hard on the lips. Their mouths slot together and there’s tongue almost immediately. Blake walks forward, hands deep in Yang’s hair. They bump into the table on the way to the bedroom, giggling, but never taking their hands off of each other. Blake pushes Yang back onto the bed, and runs her hands up the plane of Yang’s stomach as she takes off her girlfriend’s shirt. Yeah, this might be the best birthday Yang’s ever had.

-

Late in the night, Yang is at the 24/7 bodega next to the apartment, picking up some late night snacks. If she was less blissed out from her time with Blake, she might notice the shadowy figure lingering at the corner of her eye. It stalks her like a predator would stalk prey, but never makes a move to strike. It’s watching her, but what it wants is a mystery. Yang grabs sour gummy worms and a bag of Cheetos, pays the bodega man, and returns to her girlfriend’s embrace none the wiser. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last semi angst free chapter before shit starts to go down. Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

The days following her birthday are always the most difficult for Yang. Every year she takes Bumblebee and drives for hours, letting the wind batter her face while she clears her mind of poisonous thoughts. Typically, she’d go all the way up the coast and spend a few days in a small beach-town motel. She’d wallow in her sorrows by drinking illegally purchased beer until she passes out. It’s times like this that she understands why her father was so absent through their childhood. Not only did he have to deal with the woman he loved abandoning him with a newborn, he then had to watch the love of his life wither away to nothing. She used to resent her father for being so weak, but as she grows older, she really can’t blame him.

This year, she’s doing better. With Blake by her side, it’s easier to forget about her demons and insecurities, but it’s not impossible. Yang can feel her mental health deteriorating as the day gets closer. But she’s doing better than what she normally would be, so Yang is determined to work on herself and do the best that she can be. If not for herself, then at least so Blake won’t worry.

It’s the middle of the day and she’s walking down a street in town, heading back to where she parked Bumblebee while she ran into the auto parts shop. It takes a couple of blocks, but she senses someone following her. They turn when she turns, they stay a respectable distance away so as to not raise suspicion. She’s starting to get freaked out, so she leads the pursuer away from where she parked her bike and towards a narrow alley.

She waits quietly until the dark figure turns the corner, and then she throws them against the wall, bringing her arm up to their throat. Yang readies herself in a defensive stance in case she’s about to get mugged in broad daylight.

“Who are you and why are you following me?” Now that she can see him, she sees that it’s a man that’s been following her. He’s taller than Yang, with bright red hair and a strange scar that runs across his face. She notices he’s a faunus when she glances up at the horns protruding from his hair. _Who the fuck is this?_

“You know who I am. Blake has talked about me, I’m sure,” he spits out, a wicked grin spreading across his face. She can feel the malice coming off of him in waves.

Suddenly, it clicks. A crazy looking man following her, who somehow knows Blake. This is Adam. The Adam who dated Blake; the Adam who left a scar on her girlfriend from one of the many times he _hurt_ her. Yang feels heat building in her chest and her vision starts to creep with red.

“You better get the fuck out of here before I beat the shit out of you,” she grits out, teeth bared.

“Big talk for someone who’s fucking my girlfriend,” he bites back. He’s trying to get a rise out of her, logically Yang knows that, but she can’t help but respond to the bait.

“She isn’t your girlfriend. She’s terrified of you. I should skin you alive for what you did to her.” Yang presses her forearm harder against his throat.

“Oh _please_ , we had arguments, sure, but she wasn’t blameless in any of it. She deserved-” Yang punches him hard in the gut before he can finish the sentence.

“Don’t you dare talk about her like that,” Yang shouts, punching him again.

He laughs, and it’s a sickly choking sound that rattles around in Yang’s head. “Now I know what she sees in you. You’re exactly like me,” he spits at her feet and there’s blood mixed with the saliva.

“You’re crazy, I’m nothing like you.” She throws him onto the gravel.

“Oh, no? You’re needlessly violent and you’re overprotective, just like me. She’ll see the similarities between us, and she’ll leave you like she left me.” He cackles and pushes himself up off the ground, his own blood on his lips.

“We’re not- she wouldn’t,” she mumbles, and her eyes grow wide at the thought of Blake leaving. Surely Adam is lying? He’s only trying to form cracks in their relationship so he can squirm his way back into Blake’s life. But what if he’s right? She could never be good enough for Blake. She’s too violent, too hot-headed, and too stupid. Blake is the perfect girlfriend. What is Yang compared to that? She’s kept secrets from Blake about the most crucial parts of her life, when Blake has made it clear that she only wants to help. Blake is bound to realize that she deserves better than Yang, and then Yang will be alone again. _No, no, no, no._ Yang can feel her brain begin to eat itself alive.

“You’re no better for her than me. She’ll see that.” Adam saunters back to the mouth of the alley. His purpose fulfilled.

 _Blake._ She needs to see Blake. She needs to see Blake _now_. Yang sprints out of the alley, but he’s nowhere to be seen. She runs back to her bike, riding as fast as she can to Blake’s apartment, completely ignoring the speed limit signs that pepper the highway.

-

The drive to Blake’s helps to clear Yang’s mind, and she’s pushed all memory of the biting words of Adam to the back on her head. She needs to focus now on making sure Blake stays safe and that Adam can’t get to her.

“Adam is here,” she breathes out, winded from running up Blake’s apartment building’s steps.

Blake is in an orange tank top (that Yang thinks is probably hers) and short black basketball shorts, clearly not expecting company today. Her face shifts from being pleasantly surprised to see Yang, to a look of horror as she processes what has just been said to her.

“What do you mean?” Blake whispers.

“I mean that I just saw him. He followed me in town and I caught him.”

Blake steps forward and takes Yang’s face in her hands. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Her eyes are frantically searching her girlfriend for any visible wounds.

Yang gives a strained laugh and crosses her arms over her chest. “No, I’m fine.” She elects not to mention that _she_ was the one who hurt _him_.

Blake’s shoulders relax when she learns that her girlfriend is unharmed, and she gives Yang a short kiss. Yang shifts uncomfortably, thoughts of her own inadequacy moving to the front of her mind. _You’re just as violent as him; you’re no better than him; you don’t deserve her._

“What did he say to you?” Blake is starting to calm down, but the fear is still apparent in her voice.

“He mentioned that I’m apparently ‘sleeping with his girlfriend’, and some other things.” Yang also elects not to mention that Adam planted doubts in her mind about their relationship, as that’s something that she’s still processing for herself.

“Oh my gods,” Blake says, pushing her hair back and starting to pace. “He’s insane. We haven’t been in contact for two years.”

“We should call the cops, Blake.”

“I almost filed a restraining order against him before he finally left. I should probably do that.” Blake continues to pace back and forth and Yang pulls out her phone to call the police.

She informs them that they have a stalker named Adam Taurus who is potentially dangerous. The dispatcher lets Yang know that they’ll send an officer to patrol the premises, but that they should stay inside and lock the doors to be safe. She thanks them and hangs up. If there’s a chance Adam would try to hurt Blake, there’s no way Yang is leaving her side until she can be sure she’s safe.

Blake has stopped pacing and is biting her nails and staring off into space. Her cat ears are pressed flat against her head.

“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be fine,” Yang tells her, trying to sound reassuring. She would die before she that bastard touch Blake again.

Blake steps into Yang and buries her face in her girlfriend’s neck, melting into her body. Yang hesitates but then wraps her arms around Blake. She holds her there for a while. It doesn’t matter how Yang feels about their relationship right now, they can deal with that later. Right now she needs to make sure Blake feels safe, and that Adam is arrested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yang is really mentally ill in this fic in case y’all couldn’t already tell lol. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

It’s a couple of days later when the police finally find Adam. He was staked outside of Blake’s apartment in a small tan clunker. Blake suspects that he was waiting for her to come outside so that he could corner her. Blake files for a restraining order and they can both breathe a little easier knowing that Adam is in custody for now.

“I can’t believe it had to come to that,” Blake shivers, leaning closer into Yang after she gets off the phone with the cops. She’s seemed so small the past couple of days, and it makes Yang want to walk into the police station and beat the shit out of Adam for a second time.

She wraps her arms around Blake and rests her chin on top of her head. Yang thinks back to the force of the anger she felt when Adam had confronted her. She had wanted to kill him, if she’s being honest with herself. Blake’s known too much violence in her relationships; she doesn’t deserve to have even more of that in someone like Yang.

Blake moves to look up into her girlfriend’s eyes.

“I can practically hear the gears in your brain working. What’s wrong?” She tucks her head back under Yang’s chin and snuggles into the crook of her neck.

“Hm?” Yang hums, brought back to reality. “Nothing’s wrong, baby. I’m just glad they got him.” She’s glad that Blake isn’t looking at her face, because she would see the frown spreading across her lips.

-

They’re sitting on Blake’s bed doing homework together when she leans to rest her head on Yang’s shoulder. Yang tries her best, but she can’t stop herself from shifting uncomfortably away from her girlfriend. Today is the day: the anniversary of Raven abandoning Yang and her father. All of Yang’s insecurities and doubts are screaming at the forefront of her brain, refusing to be ignored.

Blake gives her a puzzled look and her ears flick back. “Are you sure everything’s okay? You’ve been acting strange lately.”

“What do you mean?” Yang pretends to be focused on her homework so that she doesn’t have to meet Blake’s eyes.

“You seem tense,” she says and cocks her head to the side, trying to get Yang to look at her.

“No, I’m just tired?” Yang knows it sounds like a lie.

“You won’t even look at me,” Blake points out, voice laced with concern. “Please, Yang.”

“Can we just drop it?” It comes out more with more acid than she means it to, and she immediately regrets it when she feels Blake flinch next to her.

“If something is bothering you, we should talk about it.” Blake’s voice is barely above a whisper.

Yang closes her textbook and finally meets Blake’s eyes.

“I think we should take a break.” The instant it comes out of her mouth, she feels as if all the air has left her lungs.

Blake is going to realize that she’s no good eventually, might as well rip the bandaid off now. It’s better to be the first to leave than be the one who gets left. That’s how Yang rationalizes it.

“What?” Blake breathes out, disbelief apparent in her voice.

Yang is shaking her head, a hand pushing her bangs out of her face. “I’m sorry.”

“Where is this coming from? Did I do something wrong?” Blake’s eyes are beginning to prick with tears and Yang can’t stand to look at her like this. She feels her own eyes start to water.

“No, no, it’s nothing to do with you,” she assures her as she takes Blake’s hands in hers.

“Then why?” She’s searching desperately for some sort of explanation. Blake yanks her hands away, curling in on herself.

“I just…” She’s looking for the right words to say. Something that will make Blake understand. Blake is the most amazing girl that Yang has ever met, and in a different situation Yang might even say that she loves her. There’s no way she could ever deserve to be with someone like Blake. Her own mother, a lowlife, didn’t even fucking want her. There is no way Blake could love her.

“Yang, this is bullshit and you know it. Tell me what’s going on!” Blake is angry now, and Yang doesn’t blame her.

Yang tries to think of any excuse she could make that would lessen the blow and make Blake feel better. She thinks of telling Blake that she needs to be single right now to figure herself out, but bile rises to the back of her throat as she realizes how similar that sounds to the reason Raven gave when she left them.

“I need to go,” she mumbles.

Yang stands and her head is spinning. She feels nauseous. All she knows is that Bumblebee is waiting for her outside.

She hears Blake call out to her, but it all sounds muffled as she grabs her coat and rushes out of the apartment. Her brain doesn’t start working properly again until she’s on the interstate going as fast as her bike can muster.

-

The sun is setting and the sky is lit in a pink hue that soon fades into the dark of night. The trees that line the road pass by her in a blur.

She turns off two hours later onto the exit that leads to the motel she stayed in last year. She takes a right turn too sharply on a small road covered in dead leaves, and she feels herself being thrown to the pavement off of her bike. Comparatively, this spill isn’t as bad as ones that she has taken before, but she knows she’s fucked up when she hears a crisp crunch as she reflexively throws her arm out to break the fall. _Fuck._

She cries out in pain, cradling her right arm to her chest. As she stands, she looks to see that her arm is almost definitely broken. It doesn’t look to be a clean break, but the damage is clear enough. Of course this would happen to her _today_ of all days.

Not without agonizing pain, Yang uses her left arm and the weight of her body to pull her bike upright. She googles the nearest twenty-four hour clinic nearby and starts to drive in that direction. Thanks to the constant throb of her arm, all thoughts of Blake and her family leave her brain. Right now, all she needs to worry about is getting her arm into a splint, and that’s something she can handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post! Thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

Blake stares at the entrance to her room, wishing that Yang would come waltzing back in with her signature goofy grin on her face. She wishes that this was all some kind of sick joke, and that Yang hadn’t really broken up with her an hour ago. She should have realized something was up sooner than this. Yang had been more distant the past few days, but Blake had marked it up to anxiety surrounding Adam lurking around.

Her eyes are red and swollen from crying. Yang had just walked out without any explanation, and all she wants to know is  _ why.  _ A thought strikes Blake’s mind. All of the shit with Adam must have scared her off.

“Are you okay?” Weiss asks as she pokes her head into Blake’s room.

“Not really. Yang broke up with me.”

“What? Why?” Weiss’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

Blake wipes her eyes and sits up, hugging a pillow to her chest.

“I don’t know. She’s been acting really strange, and when I asked her about it she just ended it.”

“That doesn’t sound like something she would do,” Weiss points out, coming in to sit on the edge of Blake’s bed.

“She probably doesn’t want to date someone with this much baggage. I think Adam showing up must have freaked her out.” Blake sniffles, tears threatening to flow again.

“I don’t think that’s it, Blake. She might be an idiot, but I know for a fact that she cares about you a lot.” Weiss pats her on the shoulder awkwardly. This is her trying to be comforting, and Blake appreciates it regardless.

“It doesn’t matter. If she doesn’t want to be with me, there’s nothing I can say that would change her mind.” Her ears flatten against her head and she scowls at her bedspread.

“You should wait until things cool off and then talk to her. If things go poorly, we can take my Porsche and go egg her house,” Weiss chuckles, standing up and heading to the door. “In the meantime, I’m going to make us some tea.”

“Thanks, Weiss.” She gives her friend a soft smile. Thank the gods for Weiss.

“Yeah, yeah,” she dismisses with a wave of her hand.

Blake is mad at Yang. How could she throw away what they have at the blink of an eye? Did Blake really mean that little to her? Maybe their relationship didn’t mean as much to Yang as it meant to her. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that has happened to her.

Weiss returns a few minutes later with hot tea in hand. Blake gratefully takes the cup and she enjoys the warmth spreading through her fingers. There’s a pang in her heart as she thinks of the warmth of Yang’s hands in hers, and she feels herself begin to cry.

-

She gets a text to her phone from an unknown number a day later.

_ Unknown: hey Blake!! this is Ruby! sorry to bother you, but is Yang with you? _

Blake stares at the screen. Why is Ruby texting her? Why is Ruby texting her about  _ Yang? _

_ Blake: No, I haven’t seen her since yesterday evening. _

_ Ruby: oh dang. ok, thanks! _

She really shouldn’t ask. She knows that she shouldn’t ask, but she really wants to.

_ Blake: Why? Is everything okay? _

_ Ruby: i haven’t heard from her and i’m getting worried. i thought she’d be with you _

_ Blake: I’m surprised she didn’t tell you that we broke up. _

Her phone is ringing seconds later. She jumps a little and picks it up immediately.

_ “You guys broke up?!” _ Ruby questions loudly through the phone. Blake has to move it away from her ear before she can answer.

“She broke up with me, actually,” Blake replies, a pit still deep in her stomach when she thinks about Yang.

_ “Gods, I thought she would be better this year,”  _ she sighs.

“Better about what?” She has no earthly clue what Ruby is talking about.

_ “I knew she wouldn’t have told you about this! Ugh, Yang…”  _ Ruby complains as she trails off in thought.

“Ruby! What are you talking about?” Blake feels herself getting more agitated. 

There’s silence from the other end and Blake has to check if Ruby’s hung up on her. She can picture Ruby with the same scrunched face Yang wears when she’s thinking about something too hard.

_ “Okay, normally this wouldn’t be my place to say, but seeing as how Yang is missing and you’re the only one she’ll listen to, I’m just going to tell you.” _

“Okay.” She waits patiently for Ruby to get on with it.

_ “So, you know about my mom, Summer, and how she passed away when we were kids.” _

“Yeah,” Blake replies, frowning at the memory of holding Yang close to her chest to soothe her.

_ “She wasn’t biologically Yang’s mom. Yang and I are half-sisters. Yang’s biological mom is a woman named Raven. She basically gave birth to Yang and then peaced out as soon as she could.” _

“Oh my gods, poor Yang.” Blake’s heart breaks at the image of a young Yang with wild hair and scraped knees asking her father why her mom left. 

_ “Yeah,”  _ Ruby agrees. _ “She has had a really tough time dealing with it and understanding that it’s not her fault. Yesterday was the anniversary of the day Raven left, so this time of year she gets more self destructive than normal. She gets inside her own head.” _

“What do you mean by self destructive?” She’s getting worried now. She pulls the phone away from her ear and opens up her messages with Yang. Four of her previous messages went unanswered. Might as well try a fifth.

_ Blake: Please call me, I’m worried about you. _

_ “She drives recklessly, goes to a gross motel, and drinks till she passes out. That’s what she did last year, at least.” _

A thought crosses her mind: the scars on Yang’s chin. She had never asked about them in order to not be rude, but now it seems relevant.

“Ruby, how did she get the scars on her face?”

Silence comes from the other end of the line. Blake suspects Ruby is debating whether or not it’s overstepping to tell all of her sister’s personal business.

_ “She had a bike accident a couple of years ago.”  _

Blake’s heart skips a beat. She doesn’t have to ask to know that the accident was due to Yang’s reckless driving. The implication is there in Ruby’s voice. There’s so much that she doesn’t know about Yang.

“I’m going to try to get her to pick up the phone. You keep trying also. We need to get a hold of her before something bad happens.”

_ “Roger that,”  _ Ruby replies, and the call ends.

Blake calls Yang and holds onto a hope that her English partner will answer the damn phone. By the eighth ring she almost hangs up and redials, but then the girl picks up. She doesn’t wait for Yang to say anything.

“Are you okay? Where are you?”

There’s a pause.  _ “I’m at the Urgent Care in Vacuo. I- uh, I broke my arm.” _ Blake almost cries at how good it is to hear Yang’s voice.

“Weiss and I are going to come pick you up, okay?”

_ “Blake, you don’t need to do th-“ _

“Text me the address,” she says, cutting Yang off.

She hangs up and begins to put her shoes on. There is no way Yang is going to ride that bike back into town with a broken arm.

“Weiss! Can we take your Porsche to Vacuo?” she calls down the hallway to Weiss’s room. 

“Ugh, that’s so far. I guess we can. Why are we going to Vacuo, dare I ask?” She sticks her head out of her room to look unenthusiastically at her roommate. 

“We’re going to pick up my ex-girlfriend.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


	14. Chapter 14

Blake and Weiss arrive at the Urgent Care a few hours later. Weiss stalls in the doorway of the room that Yang is staying in while Blake rushes forward to hug the injured girl. Her right arm is wrapped in a thick cast, and Yang grunts in pain as Blake leans down and wraps her arms around her.

Realizing herself, she moves away. She had forgotten that she and Yang are technically broken up. Blake’s yellow eyes narrow as she remembers that she’s supposed to be _mad_ at Yang.

“I’m really, really pissed off at you,” Blake says under her breath.

Yang’s eyes droop down to her cast and she fiddles with the corner of the sheet of her hospital bed.

“You should be.”

“Ruby told me about Raven,” Blake takes a seat on the side of Yang’s bed.

“Pretty fucked up, huh? My own mother didn’t want me,” Yang says chuckling lowly, and Blake frowns deeply at this.

“She isn’t your mom, _Summer_ was your mom. Family isn’t just blood.” Blake rests her hand on Yang’s knee.

“Yeah, well Summer is dead,” Yang grunts back.

“That’s not the point. So many people care about you. _I_ care about you.” She reaches out and grasps Yang’s hand and feels the warmth radiating from it.

“You deserve someone better than me,” Yang says plainly, looking down at her left hand intertwined in Blake’s.

“ _Yang Xiao Long,_ you are kind, hilarious, extremely attractive, and the most loving girl I have ever known. How could I ever find someone better than you?” Blake smiles and leans down to lay a kiss on Yang’s forehead.

“That’s gross,” Yang says with a smile and arches her head to press a kiss to Blake’s lips.

Blake kisses her back and then gestures for Yang to move over so that they can lay in the hospital bed side-by-side. “Maybe so, but it’s true.”

They lie there in silence for a while, just listening to each other’s breath and the hum of the hospital lights.

“I’m sorry for leaving.”

“It’s okay. I get it.”

Yang sits up, wincing as she moves her casted arm. “No, it’s not okay. You’ve given me no reason to not be completely upfront with you, but I keep fucking up.” She brings a hand to her face. “When I talked to Adam, he told me that I’m just like him, and that really scared me.”

“He _what?_ And you actually believed that?” Blake’s mouth drops open in surprise.

“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t really in my right mind. What if I am like him, though? I don’t want you to have to deal with anything like him ever again.”

“Yang.” She brings a hand to Yang’s cheek, tilting her face so that she will look directly at her. “You’re _nothing_ like him. The fact that you’re even worried about being like him shows how different you are. He never gave a shit about me. He wanted to own me, not love me.”

“Well, I do,” Yang mumbles, breaking eye contact with Blake.

“Do what?”

“Love you,” she continues to mumble, just barely audible.

A smile spreads over Blake’s face. Her enhanced faunus senses enable her to hear exactly what Yang is saying, but she wants to play with her.

“I’m sorry? I can’t hear you.” Blake leans in, nose an inch from Yang’s.

“I love you,” Yang laughs, pushing Blake’s face away playfully. “If you’re going to tease me about it, I’ll just ask for visiting hours to be over.”

“I love you too.” Her heart melts and she leans back in to kiss Yang slowly. Yang’s hand moves to the curve of her neck and pulls her closer. Her tongue slides over Blake’s bottom lip and she opens her mouth to allow it to enter completely. Blake sighs into her mouth, her fingers fisting in the front of Yang’s button up.

“I really hope you two aren’t planning on doing it in a _hospital._ ” Weiss is back and she’s standing in the entrance to the room with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. They jump apart instantly at the intrusion.

Blake blushes and buries her face in Yang’s shirt, but Yang just laughs brings her good arm to wrap around Blake.

“And what if we are, Schnee? You trying to watch?” Yang snarks and throws a wink at Weiss, whose face is now pink.

“You’re disgusting. How much longer until we can leave?”

“They think I have a concussion, so I’m not really sure.” Yang says, rubbing Blake’s back.

“Great. I’m going to go find your nurse.” Weiss rolls her eyes and struts out of the room and down the hallway.

Yang watches her go, feeling guilty that Weiss had to get dragged into this. She opens her mouth to make a remark about Weiss not liking her, but when she looks down she sees that Blake is staring up at her with lazy eyes. She brings a hand up to trace the faded scars on Yang’s jaw.

“We should go buy helmets together,” Blake says and presses her lips to Yang’s scars.

“We can do that, baby.”

-

They’re eating dinner together at Blake’s apartment a week later. Things are easy and simple. Yang makes a bad joke and Blake giggles and tries to cover her mouth with her hand. Yang reaches out and moves her hand away. She moves closer and presses her lips to Blake’s (who is still giggling).

All of their problems aren’t solved, but they’re committed to working on them _together._ Yang tries her best to communicate with her girlfriend when she can feel herself retreating into the darkness of her own insecurities. They do their best to understand each other, because what they have is something that deserves a chance.

-

When Yang’s cast comes off, her arm is almost as good as new. The break didn’t leave her with any significant damage, but she still feels tinges of pain every now and again.

-

Taiyang invites Blake to a family dinner a month later. Blake is giddy and nervous, obsessing over what to wear while Yang reclines on her bed. She’s not a big help in picking out an outfit, responding with ‘you look hot’ to everything Blake tries on.

As Blake looks at herself in the mirror, Yang comes from behind and wraps her arms around her waist.

“We should get going,” she says as she brushes her lips over her girlfriend’s neck.

“I would be done by now, if you were any help at all.”

“You’re right. I would rather have you not wearing any clothes at all, if I’m being honest.” Yang rests her chin on Blake’s shoulder and looks at their reflection.

“We’re going to eat dinner with your family. Get your head out of the gutter,” she turns and kisses Yang’s cheek and then moves away to finish her makeup. Yang stares after her fondly, and she feels so happy that her heart could burst. 

-

They’re riding Bumblebee on the way to Yang’s house. The rumble of the bike is drowned out by the woosh of air from the other cars on the highway. Blake is pressed solidly against Yang’s back, and they’ve both got helmets on in an effort to be safe. Yang’s helmet is purple with a yellow swirl that races through the middle of it. Blake opted to go with a black helmet with golden stars.

Yang makes sure to go exactly the speed limit during the entire drive. She doesn’t ever let herself speed these days. Whenever she’s having a difficult day, Yang lets herself be held and be taken care of by her girlfriend rather than hopping on Bumblebee and racing away from her problems.

The road becomes bumpy as they pull up onto the gravel of Yang’s driveway. Yang hops off of the bike and then assists Blake, hand finding the small of her back as she slips off.

Blake takes her helmet off, black hair falling down to frame her face. For what feels like the millionth time, Yang’s breath is taken away by the beauty of Blake Belladonna. Her golden eyes are full of love as she reaches up to take Yang’s helmet from her head. She threads a hand through the thick blonde hair that spills down Yang’s shoulders.

Yang brings her lips to Blake’s, and the softness of the kiss spreads a warmth through her chest. Blake’s fingers find her belt loops and tug her closer to deepen the kiss. She pulls back, pushing a strand of black hair away from her girlfriend’s face.

“What do you think about trading Bumblebee in for a four-door?” Yang inquires with a smirk.

“Mm, that’s definitely something we can talk about.” Blake kisses her again, and Yang feels free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s all, folks! Thanks for reading! I’m currently working on another Bumbleby fic so expect that in the near future :)


End file.
